# 23 Meeting the inner temple

[Pryr-1.2-23] Thirdly, this Pearl of Eternity is the Church, or the Temple of God within You.  This is the consecrated Place of Divine Worship, where alone you can worship God in Spirit, & Truth.

In Spirit, because it is your Spirit is that alone in You, and it is that which can unite, and cleave unto God, and so receive the Workings of his Divine Spirit in You. In Truth, because of this Adoration in Spirit, Truth and Reality, of which all outward Forms and Rites, & instituted by God, are but a Figure of Time, this Worship is Eternal. So accustom yourself to the Holy Service of this inward Temple.

In the midst of it is the Fountain of Living Water, of which drink, and live forever. There the Mysteries of your Redemption are celebrated, or rather they opened & shown to you, in Life and Power.

There the Supper of the Lamb is kept; the Bread that came down from Heaven, that gives Life to the World, & is your true Nourishment: for all is done, and known in real Experience, in the living Sensibility of the Work of God on the Soul.

There the Birth, the Life, the Sufferings, the Death, the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, are not merely remembered, but found, as the real States of your Soul, which has followed Christ in its Regeneration.

Then, once you are well-grounded in this inward Worship, you will have learnt to live with God out of Time, out of Place, & every Day will be Sunday, and wherever you go, you will have a Priest, a Church, and an Altar with You, and never will you miss the touch of Our Lord.

For it is only when God has all that He should have of your Heart, after you have renounced your  Will, Your Many Judgments, You Wayward Tempers and the Inclinations of your old Man (Old Man = Old Nick, Satan, Devil, the Evil One),  only then will  you wholly be given up to the Obedience of the Light and Spirit of God within You, and only then will His  Will  & only his Will and that for you  to Love & be Wise  in his Wisdom, then it is can it be that that every Thing you do is as a song of Praise (Prayers), and the common Business of your Life will be to be as conforming to God's Will on Earth, as Angels do in Heaven.

#22 God, the true source of liberty

[Pryr-1.2-22] On the other Hand, wherever this Seed of Heaven is takes Root, to gets Life and Breath in the Soul, whether it be in Man, or Woman, and however old, then Man is justly said to be inspired, enlightened, and moved by the Spirit of God, because his whole Birth and Life is a Birth from above, of the Light and Spirit of God; and therefore he has the Nature, Spirit, and Tempers of Heaven in it.

As this regenerate Life grows up in any Man, so too grows a true and real Knowledge of the whole Mystery of Godliness in himself. All that the Gospel teaches of Sin and Grace, of Life and Death, of Heaven and Hell, of the New and Old Man, of the Light and Spirit of God, are Things not got by Hearsay, but inwardly known, felt by Man in his own new born Life.

He has Unction from above (Holy Unction is considered one of the 7 traditional Sacraments, and is believed to be part of the healing rites of the Church)  which teaches him all Things, knows  what it ought to pray for, and then prays without ceasing, that Christ is risen from the Dead, in a Conversation with Heaven, for his Spirit has been delivered from Vanity, and now has its glorious Liberty in that God, from whom it came forth.


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The seven sacraments are Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, UNCTION (Anointing of the Sick) Holy Orders, and Matrimony.  They are found in the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches.

#21 Science does not give true understanding

[Pryr-1.2-21] So, where is Christ?

Who shall ascend into Heaven,  to bring down Christ from above to us? Who shall descend into the Deep, to bring Christ from the Dead?

It is you, in your heart that will and can do this.  If you, but Light (turn)  your Feet and put a Lanthorn*(lantern) unto your Paths.   If too,  like a Holy Oil, instead of beckoning to the wrathful,  & fiery Properties of thy Nature, you use the Holy Oil of Meekness, turning anger into Light and Love.  If you do this, then the Christ in your Soul; will be there, and talk to you.

For then, you are ready to hear the Holy Word speak Wisdom and Love, & let the Birth of Christ, with all his Holy Nature, Spirit, and Tempers clean out the idolatrous Darkness within.

For then, the the Apostles of a Christ will be awakened , and you will see within yourself a true Dignity  of your Immortal  Souls  that will help you between the choices of Virtue  and eternal Shame and Misery.
These Apostles, though they had not the Law,  they found, and preached the Gospel, that was written in their Hearts.

Hence they could say this divine Truth, That such only are Priests and Prophets, who have God in themselves. Hence the Christian Church, there have been in all Ages, amongst the most illiterate, both Men and Women, who have attained to a deep Understanding of the Mysteries of the Wisdom and Love of God in Christ Jesus.  Is this so wonderful?  So stunning?  Not really.   Since it is not Art or Science, or Skill in Grammar or Logic, but the Opening of Divine Life in the Soul, that gives true Understanding of the Things of God, "education" is not necessary.

This Life of God in the Soul, which for its Smallness at first, and Capacity for great Growth, is by our Lord compared to a Grain of Mustard Seed, may be, and too generally is suppressed and kept under, either by worldly Cares, or Pleasures, by vain Learning, Sensuality, or Ambition.

Watever Church, or Profession any Man has, he is a mere Natural Man, unregenerate, unenlightened by the Spirit of God, because this Seed of Heaven is choked, and not suffered to grow up in him. His Religion is no more from Heaven than his fine Breeding; his Cares have no more Goodness in them than his Pleasures; his Love is worth no more than his Hatred; his Zeal for this, or against that Form of Religion, has only the Nature of any other worldly Contention in it.

Thus it must be with every mere natural Man, whatever Appearances he may put on, that still he is a Slave, and Machine of his own corrupt Tempers and Inclinations, and that the more he be enlightened, inspired, quickened and animated by the Vanity of his Self-love, Self-esteem, and Self-seeking aspirations to do well in this world, then his Life, and Spirit is of the mere natural Man, whether he be Heathen, Jew, or Christian.

#20 The Choice is ours

[Pryr-1.2-20] But Secondly, this Pearl of Eternity is the Wisdom and Love of God within us.

In this Pearl  all the Holy Nature, Spirit, Tempers, and Inclinations of Christ, lie as a Seed in the Centre of thy Soul, and Divine Wisdom and heavenly Love grows in Thee, if you truly give  Attention to God.

Also hidden in the Depth of thy Nature, is the  Root, or Possibility of all the hellish Nature, the Tempers of the fallen Angels.

For Heaven and Hell have their Foundation within us, they do not come from without, but instead spring up according as our Will,  and Heart that can either be turned to the Light of God, or the Kingdom of Darkness. So it is us, in the midst of these two Eternities, that has the opportunity to be either an Angel, or a fallen Devil craven and craving amongst the world at large, no different but the same as our first brother, Adam.

#19 Children of the Corn

Pryr-1.2-16] See here in short, the State of Man as redeemed. He has a Spark of the Light  & This Holy Spark within Him, has a natural, strong and almost infinite Tendency,  of  Reaching after the eternal Light and Spirit of God, from whence it came.

 And in reverse, this Love, or Desire of God towards the Soul of Man, is so great, that He gave his only begotten Son, the Brightness of his Glory, to take the human Nature upon him, in its fallen State, so that this mysterious Union of God and Man, all the Enemies of the Soul of Man might be overcome, and every human Creature might have a Power of being born again according to that Image of God, in which he was first created.

To read the gospels, is to know the History of the Love of God for Man.

[Pryr-1.2-17] A Grain of Wheat has the Air and Light of this World  incorporated in it: it is a Mystery of Life, its  Power of Growing, and its strong continual Tendency of uniting again with that Ocean of Light and Air, from whence it came forth, and so it helps to kindle its own Vegetable Life.

[Pryr-1.2-18] On the other Hand, The great Ocean of Light and Air, has a perpetual strong Tendency to unite, and communicate with that grain of wheat and it is that Desire of Union on both Sides, that the Vegetable Life arises, and all the Virtues and Powers are within.


[Pryr-1.2-19] So until the Husk and the Grain fall into a State of Corruption and eventual Death, the Mystery of Life that is hidden in it, cannot be known and it may never be known to the Husk, but for us it can be different,  because we,  by Self-Denial of  the Lusts of the Flesh, the call of charge card, a bottomless pocketbook that is never satisfied, a refusal of various Lusts  of the Eyes, and attendant Pride of Vanity that makes us buy and obtain what we cannot afford, can be united and known our Maker.  

This denial though seemingly cruel, is not imposed by us by the mere Will of God, as a Punishment, nor is it an Invention of dull and dead monkish Spirits that want to delight in our earthly misery, but instead,  it is grounded in reason, stopping us from our own self-destruction and instead causing us to reflect and make Way for the New Birth within, just as the Death of the Husk is necessary to make Way for its vegetable Life as maize.

#18 God the Inspiration

[Pryr-1.2-14] Still, the Goodness of God would not leave Man in this sad Condition.

A Redemption from it was immediately granted, and the Bruiser [Thug]  of the Serpent brought the Light and Spirit of Heaven once more into the human Nature, not as it was in its first State, when Man was in Paradise, but as a Treasure hidden in the Centre of our Souls, where it could discover, and open itself by Degrees, in such Proportion, as the Faith and Desires of our Hearts were turned to it. 

It is this Light and Spirit of God thus freely restored again to the Soul, and lying in it as a secret Source of Heaven, is called Grace, Free Grace, or the Supernatural Gift, or Power of God in the Soul, because it was something that the Natural Powers of the Soul could no more obtain. Hence it is, that in the greatest Truth, and highest Reality, every stirring of the Soul, every Tendency of the Heart towards God and Goodness, is justly and necessarily ascribed to the Holy Spirit, or the Grace of God.

 It is because this first Seed of Life, which is sown into the Soul, as the Gift or Grace of God to fallen Man, is itself the Light and Spirit of God, and therefore every Stirring, or Opening of this Seed of Life, every awakened Thought or Desire that arises from it, must be called the Moving, or the Quickening of the Spirit of God; and therefore that new Man which arises from it, must of all Necessity be said to be solely the Work and Operation of God.

 Hence also we have an easy and plain Declaration of the true Meaning, solid Sense, and certain Truth, of all those Scriptures, which speak of the Inspiration of God, the Operation of the Holy Spirit, the Power of the Divine Light, as the sole and necessary Agents in the Renewal and Sanctification of our Souls, and also as being Things common to all Men.

 It is because this Seed of Life, or Bruiser of the Serpent, is common to all Men, and has in all Men a Degree of Life, which is in itself so much of the Inspiration, or Life of God, the Spirit of God, the Light of God, which is in every Soul, and is its Power of becoming born again of God. Hence also it is, that all Men are exhorted not to quench, or resist, or grieve the Spirit, that is, this Seed of the Spirit and Light of God that is in all Men, as the only Source of Good.

By Flesh and its Lust, are what a mere human Nature, or natural Man, is by the Fall; by the Spirit is the Bruiser of the Serpent, the Seed of the Light and Spirit of God, which lies dormant like Treasure hid deep in the Soul.

Just as Flesh has its Life, so does it has Lust and from that all sorts of Evil are truly said to be inspired, quickened, and stirred up in us.  So too the Spirit has its Inspiration, its Breathing, its Moving, its Quickening, and from that alone the Divine Life, or the Angel that died in Adam, is born again in us.

[Pryr-1.2-15] When this Seed of the Spirit, common in all Men, is not resisted, grieved, and quenched, but its Inspirations and Motions are allowed to grow and increase in us, it will allow us to reunite with God, and allow us  Power over all the Lusts of the Flesh,  so then we can be born again, & the Nature, Spirit, and Tempers of Jesus Christ can be  opened in our Souls.  

Then the Kingdom of God is found within us. 

On the other Hand, when the Flesh, or the Natural Man has resisted and quenched this Spirit or Seed of Life within us, then the works of the Flesh, Adultery, Fornication, Murders, Lying, Hatred, Envy, Wrath, Pride, Foolishness, worldly Wisdom, carnal Prudence, false Religion, hypocritical Holiness, and serpentine Subtlety, have set up their Kingdom within us.
 

#17 The Pearl of Eternity

[Pryr-1.2-12] But I will now show a little more distinctly, what this Pearl of Eternity is.

Pearls from St John of Patmos Monastery. Greece

 First, it is the Light and Spirit of God within Thee, which has previously  done you  little Good, because all you want is the things of this World.   

Your  Reason, and Sensibility, your  Heart and your Passions, have turned all their Attention to the poor Concerns of this Life, and so in turn you have become a Stranger to Heaven,  and the Riches of Eternity within 

God cannot be truly found by anyone  who does not worship Him in Truth, which is why this Light and Spirit of His, though always within us, is not, and cannot be found, felt, or enjoyed, but by those whose whole Spirit and Mind  is turned to it.

William Blake - 1st book of Urizen Eternity

[Pryr-1.2-13] When Man first came into Being, and stood before God truthfully and openly,  this Light and Spirit of God was as natural to him, as the Light and Air of this World is natural to the Creatures that have their Birth in it. 

But then Man, not content with the Food of Eternity,  must instead craved things earthly.  From that desire,  the Light & Spirit of Heaven becomes unnatural to him, and is apart from his Creator.

 And in truth, this really is  the Death, that God had foretold Adam, when He said that Adam should surely die, the Day that he should eat of the forbidden Tree.